Notts: County set to become broadband hotspot in £20m scheme

County Hall at Trent Bridge

Notts may already be on the way to becoming one of the best connected counties in the UK , but new Council proposals could see thousands of extra homes and businesses get access to faster broadband.

Notts County Council and BT are six months into the delivery phase of contract one of the £20m Better Broadband for Notts (BBfN) programme, which will see access to fibre broadband made available to nearly 95 per cent of the homes and businesses in the county by March 2016.

Now new £5m plans to extend the roll-out further, which would boost faster broadband availability up to 97 per cent of properties countywide, are to be considered by the Council’s Policy Committee on 7th January.

BBfN contract two would tap into an offer of £2.63m in Government and £2.63m in D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Deal funding to deliver the scheme.

When contract one is completed in March 2016, it is projected that district-by-district superfast broadband availability will be 88.1 percent coverage in Bassetlaw, or 46,556 homes and businesses.

BBfN contract two would particularly target more rural areas in Bassetlaw where availability after contract one is not as high as elsewhere in the county.

Coun Diana Meale, chair of Economic Development Committee at Notts County Council, said: “Good availability of broadband for homes and businesses is a top priority for the Council.”

“Living in one of the best connected counties in the country has numerous benefits for economic growth and job creation. We’ve made fantastic progress on contract one, with around 25,000 homes and businesses now able to access fibre-broadband in Notts.”

“Our ultimate aim is for every home and business to have good broadband availability,” she added.